The kids and I are mid-way through an extended trip visiting various branches of my family in the Midwest. We flew into Chicago on Wednesday morning, stayed with my dad for a few days. Friday night, we drove six hours (with three adults, two kids, and a dog with a bladder infection!) to Northern Wisconsin, where I currently sit on my mom’s laptop, stealing the neighbor’s wireless connection. We’re at my mom’s house on a lake, with my stepdad’s family. We had 16 people for dinner on Saturday night, 21 on Sunday. We drive back down to civilization tomorrow, and then go to Central Illinois on Friday for my dad’s family reunion, before flying back to Boston on Sunday night (my kids’ first birthday!).
We’re surviving, and even doing quite well. The key, I think, has been to stick to my kids’ normal schedule and routines as much as possible. We spend a lot more time outside than we usually do at home, and there’s seemingly a million people who want to hold and play with them. But naps and meals and bedtimes remain the same, and I think that has helped a lot. Not 100% smooth sailing, but pretty darn good.
I’ll give a full recap next week when we get back, but I thought I’d check in from our crazy Midwestern adventure. And, of course, I had to share a few pictures!
Enjoying breakfast at the lake.
Rebecca suddenly enjoys assisted walking
Daniel looks out the window with his grandma
Tell me about those placemats! They look so helpful- do they help keep the mess on the table, rather than the floor?
Ditto, where did you get those placemats?
I also want to know all about these placemats! They look like they do their job very well. Please share!
Love the photos!! What cuties you have. And, um, when did they get to be almost one??!!
Okay, the ‘Rebecca’ pic is so ridiculously cute!!!! Oh, these babies! Darling! I had to laugh–my girl twin has lots of dark hair and her ‘little’ (by 4 minutes) brother has just a dusting of light hair–kinda like yours!
Blessings!
A, they’re adorable. Rebecca’s walking grin and the lovely light on the shot of Daniel with G’Ma. Love ‘em!
Like you, whenever traveling (even now, and our twins are 6) we’ve found keeping as close to regular schedule as possible is very advisable!
Enjoy your trip!
Oh!! Rebecca looks sooooo happy!! Too cute
We have those placemats and they work really well – except my picky perfectionist can’t use it on the ROUND part of the table. (*roll eyes here*) He has to be along the long end rather than the rounded short end so that all of the suction cups stick. LOL
I’m pretty sure we just got them at B-r-U.
The placemats are Kiddapotomous (sp??) “Tiny Diner” placemats, and they have suction cups on the bottom so they stick to the table. They also roll up into themselves, so travel very well. The suction cups aren’t perfect and my kids can sometimes pick them off the table and play with them, but they’re handy nonetheless.